TOPIC AND COMMENT IN HMONG (SOUTHEAST ASIA, CHINA, THAILAND, VIETNAM)
Author(s):
Fuller, Judith Wheaton
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : University of Minnesota, 1985.
Pages:
246
Language:
English
Abstract:
Much recent research has made use of Li and Thompson's (1976) typology which identifies sets of "topic-prominent" and "subject-prominent" language characteristics. Yet few languages have been described according to these properties. In this thesis the syntactic means by which the notions of topic and comment are expressed in the Hmong language are described, and implications for typologies which make use of topic and comment structure are discussed. The notion of subject in Hmong is discussed in order to determine whether or not subjects as distinct from topics can be identified in Hmong. It is shown that subjects in Hmong can be identified by position, selectional relations with the verb, and certain grammatical processes. Therefore it is concluded that the notion of subject is viable in Hmong. Topics in Hmong are investigated by using Gundel's (1985) definitions of syntactic and pragmatic topic. Under these definitions, both noun phrase and clausal topics are identified. The particles mas and ces, previously described as "pause markers", are shown to function instead as topic markers for both noun phrase and clausal topics, with text instances of mas predominating for noun phrase topics and ces predominating for certain clausal topics. The question particle ne is shown to be the interrogative counterpart of the declarative topic marker mas. It is shown that several syntactic structures create topic-comment organization in Hmong sentence structure. Structures which meet both Gundel's syntactic and pragmatic topic definitions are topicalizations, left-dislocations, and "double-subject" constructions. Structures which meet only the pragmatic definition of topic are certain constructions formed with the verbs raug and mag and another construction formed with yog, 'be'. It is shown that zero noun phrases occur in both subject and object position in main and subordinate clauses. With the exception of specified syntactic processes, zero noun phrases are shown to refer to topics. This thesis shows that Hmong is high on the topic-prominence scale but still has properties that relate to subjects. A refined classification of topic-prominent languages is proposed which considers both topic and subject properties.